The Clown Prince of Islam

Reader Clown Prince (whose name I hope comes from a shared affinity for the villain of the DC Comics Universe) recommended an article from Times Online about women converting to Islam. I thought it was worth noting a few things I found prominent in the article. First:

“Our liberal, pluralistic 21st-century society means we can choose our careers, our politics – and we can pick and choose who we want to be spiritually,” explains Dr Mohammad S. Seddon, lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Chester. We’re in an era of the “religious supermarket”, he says.

I couldn’t agree more with Dr. Seddon. The beauty of our society is that people can choose where they want to live, who they want to associate with and what faith (or no faith) they want to subscribe to. The problem is that there is an extreme element in Islam, and Christianity to a less violent degree, that can’t handle many elements of this pluralism. Many Muslims think criticism of their religion should be outlawed because their faith doesn’t permit it, putting their own faith over the laws of the countries they’ve immigrated to. Many Christians, because they believe homosexuality is a crime, want their views of homosexuality enforced on the rest of society.

The rest of the article documents several women who lived lives of drunken chaos, nihilism and other youthful decadence. It pretty seems like the same story of those who convert to evangelical Christianity:

“At university, I lived the typical student existence, drinking and going clubbing, but I’d always wake up the next morning with a hangover and think, what’s the point?

“It wasn’t until my second year that I met Hussein. I knew he was a Muslim, but we were falling in love, so I brushed the whole issue of religion under the carpet. But six months into our relationship, he told me that being with me was ‘against his faith’.

“I was so confused. That night I sat up all night reading two books on Islam that Hussein had given me. I remember bursting into tears because I was so overwhelmed. I thought, ‘This could be the whole meaning of life.’ But I had a lot of questions: why should I cover my head? Why can’t I eat what I like?

Some people are apparently unable to live a stable, independent life on their own and need to have the constant validation of orthodoxy to keep them in line. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it would be good if religious people were to realize that not everyone has this problem. Many of us are moral and refrain from doing drugs and drinking every day simply because it’s self-evidently necessary.

“When people see a white girl wearing a niqab they assume I’ve stuck my fingers up at my own culture to ‘follow a bunch of Asians’. I’ve even had teenage boys shout at me in the street, ‘Get that s*** off your head, you white bastard.’ After the London bombings, I was scared to walk about in the streets for fear of retaliation.

That’s the sort of ignorance and stupidity that needs to be stomped out. A recent roommate of me remarked about the Jihad Jane story that it was surprising that she was white. Islam is and has always been a global religion since its inception.

“For the most part, I have a very happy life. I married Hussein and now we have a one-year-old son, Zakir. We try to follow the traditional Muslim roles: I’m foremost a housewife and mother, while he goes out to work. I used to dream of having a successful career as a psychologist, but now it’s not something I desire.

“Becoming a Muslim certainly wasn’t an easy way out. This life can sometimes feel like a prison, with so many rules and restrictions, but we believe that we will be rewarded in the afterlife.”

Here Aqeela Lindsay Wheeler validates the arguments of Ali and myself. Organized religion makes oppression based on stupid differences like race and gender sustainable because it leaves the believer in acceptance of their lowly status. I’m a little surprised Clown Prince sent me an article where a Muslim convert essentially validates the anti-feminist nature of the faith.

Islamic orthodoxy is antithetical to liberal enlightenment. Islam must remain one faith among many, separate from the state and policy, if we want to remain free and secular. This is a fine line to walk, because the skepticism of Hitchens, Ali, Dawkins or Harris could turn into the conservative racism and xenophobia of Mark Steyn (who actually used Arabs being elected to political positions as an argument for a European downfall in his screed America Alone).

Like this:

What’s anti-feminist about controlling yourself and staying home with your kids? Is working yourself to death and whoring somehow better? :D (Yes, I exaggerate for effect).

Seriously, I’m agnostic and I also refrain from sleeping around, dressing with all my stuff hanging out, and I quit my career to raise good, happy, free market, (hopefully) entrepreneurial kids. Homeschooled.

(I’m vaguely sort of secular christian, if you want to pin any religion on me. As in, I have no idea if there is a god, but it doesn’t suck to have a nice couple of holidays for culture and a story about a baby and love isn’t all bad, even if it might just be a story sort of thing.)

It doesn’t hurt me if someone believes in God when I still look for evidence. I dunno. I refuse to choose sides in the culture war. I just say lets leave each other the hell alone and go start a nice business. ;)

Abdulameer

Mark Steyn is neither racist nor xenophobic. He knows the danger from Islam, and he exposes it for all to see. You would do well to learn about Islam before you dare to write about it.
The place to turn to learn the truth about Islam is to the horse’s mouth, that is, to the Koran, the sayings of Muhammad (Hadith), and the most respected Islamic religious authorities and scholars. When we do that, we see the following:
Here is a sampling of the doctrines of Islam which motivate the hearts and minds of all religious Moslems:
FROM THE KORAN:
–“ the (only) religion (acceptable) before God is Islam.” (3:19)
— ” If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him.” (3: 85)
— “You are the noblest community ever raised up for mankind.” (3:110)
— The unbelievers among the people of the book and the pagans shall burn forever in the fire of Hell. They are the vilest of all creatures. (98.6).
— Surely the vilest of animals in Allah’s sight are those who disbelieve. (8.55)
–The unbelievers are your inveterate enemy. (4:101)
— Mohammed is God’s apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another. (48:29).
— It is unlawful for a believer to kill another believer, accidents excepted. (4:92)
— Believers, take neither the Jews nor the Christians for your friends. (5:51)
— Make war on them until idolatry shall cease and God’s religion shall reign supreme. (8:40)
— Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God’s religion reigns supreme. (2:193)
— The true believers fight for the cause of God, but the infidels fight for the devil. (4:76)
— We will put terror into the hearts of the unbelievers. (3:151)
— I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, strike off the very tips of their fingers. (8:12)
FROM THE SAYINGS OF MUHAMMAD:
— Muhammad said to the Jews: “If you embrace Islam, you will be safe. You should know that the earth belongs to Allah and His Apostle, and I want to expel you from this land. “
— Allah’s Apostle said, “You (i.e. Muslims) will fight with the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, ‘O ‘Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.’ ”
— Mohammed said, “I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, “None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, and whoever says, ” None has the right to be worshipped but Allah , his life and property will be saved by me.” (otherwise it will not).
— Mohammed said, “Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him.”
— Mohammed said, ” No Muslim should be killed for killing a Kafir” (infidel).
— Muhammad said: “Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war, …”
In addition, the most popular manual of Islamic sacred law, approved by the highest Islamic religious authorities of Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, says: “Jihad means to make war on non-Muslims.” What could be clearer than that?
And, how about this:
Ayatollah Khomeini, the most important Moslem leader of the 20th Century, said: “Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those who say this are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Does this mean that Muslims should sit back until they are devoured? Islam says: Kill them, put them to the sword and scatter their armies…. Islam says: whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! the sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for the Holy Warriors! There are hundreds of other Koranic psalms and Hadiths urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all this mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim.”
And, how about this:
From Jihad in Islam by Sayyeed Abdul A’la Maududi, one of the most prolific and most widely read and influential Islamic writers of the 20th Century:
“The goal of Islam is to rule the entire world and submit all of mankind to the faith of Islam. Any nation or power that gets in the way of that goal, Islam will fight and destroy.”
All of this is Islam — the faith, the belief system, the ideology. The peaceful Moslems, and they certainly exist, do not follow the violent, hateful, aggressive and supremacist doctrines of Islam. Yet, those doctrines, taught and preached in mosques and Moslem schools around the world, are there for all to see; and they will always produce scores of millions of Moslems who take them seriously. Any given Moslem might or might not be peaceful; but there is no question about the doctrines of Islam promoting violence. All of the Islamic sacred sources plus the most respected Islamic religious authorities say that Islam requires the “offensive jihad” for spreading Islam throughout the world.

Norm

Well, guess we know Google works.

http://hathor-sekhmet.blogspot.com VRB

It is interesting to see how some people are just noticing now in the 21th century, because of the Americans epiphany. Did anyone notice the professional Iranian women who joined the Ayatollah Khomeini’s cause or remember those strange looking women who joined Christian sects in the 30’s and 50’s? During the 60’s and 70’s, the appearance of the hijab and burka became more common. Even in non-Muslim or non-Christian religions and political organization, misogyny becomes attractive to some women.

Michael O. Powell

VRB –

Thanks for the post. I have heard women, a few times, actually say that the old order, when women were relegated to the kitchen and expected to stay there their entire lives, had its joys and predictability. With women’s liberation came the unpredictability of life in what was before “the man’s world.” It should be unsurprising that some women would welcome blatant sexism and misogyny. That’s their right, but it’s absolutely twisted to pretend that it’s anything liberal.

http://go.to/islamhistory Historyscoper

Where’s the best place to study hairy Islam and its 1400-year history to master all the key facts? Answer: online with the Historyscoper, and it’s free. To get started click http://go.to/islamhistory

Note. There were a significant number of absolutely unconscionable comments posted here. I have deleted them.

Usually I take a pretty open stance on comment moderation (although some of these were clearly well beyond that line), but one aspect in particular caused me to do otherwise in this case:

They were all coming from one author, posting under multiple aliases, at the same IP address.

That is not tolerated here.

I apologize for needing to do this — deleting comments is something that I absolutely hate. But in this case, I felt it necessary.

Danielle

I agree with one part of this article strongly:”Anyways, I recommend everyone read Clown Prince’s article and educate themselves about Islam. Westerners are far too ignorant about it.”

Indeed, certain part of this very article and the cut and paste job by Abdulameer are prime examples of such ignorance.

Abdulameer

Who is Danielle to criticize my “cut and paste” job? I quoted the Koran, Muhammad, Sharia law and the most respected Islamic religious authorities. Does Danielle really claim to know more about Islam than Islam’s own religious authorities??? Because of the miracle of Google, anybody can verify those citations. I advise everyone to read the Koran, for starters. If you don’t like what you find in there, don’t blame me. And, if you think it does not matter what the Koran says, then you are delivering the greatest possible insult to all religious Moslems who believe that the Koran is Allah’s literal words. You can find the Koran online, or you can pick up a free on at any mosque. And, of course, you could actually buy one at any bookstore. Every non-Moslem needs to know what is in that book.

Michael O. Powell

This is a comment from the actual Michael O. Powell. Someone has been posting comments using my address and pretending to be me.

A little message to those using my name, along with the man using the USAF address and posting “KILL ALL JEWS” and “KAJ:” I can see your e-mail address and your comments will be deleted as soon as they are posted.

When myself and others talked about controversies around the Islamic faith at United Liberty, a similar sewer of nonsense, hatred, homophobia and anti-Semitism spewed forth. It doesn’t represent any cause well and only further validates the arguments I have made.